Vikki Maver
Since 2008, Vikki has been training others on how to improve their writing at work. It’s with great pleasure I announce that Vikki will be sharing her expertise at WordCamp Gold Coast in a session on writing for the web.
Vikki finds helping people improve their writing skills extremely rewarding and loves meeting interesting people along the way, which is why we’ve been able to convince her to deliver this session at WordCamp.
To help me improve these announcements blog posts, I got in early to ask Vikki for her top tips on writing for the web.
At WordCamp Gold Coast, you’ll be presenting on how to write for an online audience. What are your top three tips for writing online?
1. Learn how to write for scanners: Know and appreciate that you are writing for scanners. So your objective is not to force people to read your messages. It’s to help them find what they want. Quickly.
2. Create new content: Accept that you need to write new content for your website. Don’t simply throw up slabs of old text. Craft text that’s suited to the online environment and distinctive behaviours of web users.
3. Remember: it’s not about you. It’s about them: Always let your audience take centre stage in your content. People don’t care about your business, your products or services. They want to know how it will benefit them.
You’ve given a similar presentation for web writing workshops. How do find people feel about writing online?
People generally lack confidence when it comes to any type of writing. So they tend to be even more unsure when it comes to web writing. But with my simple, practical techniques in mind, they soon discover it’s not as overwhelming as they feared.
Any specials plans for your time at Gold Coast?
I’m hoping to squeeze in a spot of shopping and some sun. Is that wrong?
Not at all Vikki, that’s what the Gold Coast is for!
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